Museo de Arte Popular

A block from the Alameda, a 1928 art deco fire-and-police station with a stepped tower now holds the capital's happiest museum. The Museo de Arte Popular gathers the crafts of every Mexican state around a light-filled courtyard: monumental alebrijes - the fantastical spiked and winged creatures born in Mexico City cartoneria and painted in Oaxacan color; ceramic trees of life from Metepec branching with Adam, Eve and flowering serpents; Huichol yarn paintings and beadwork blazing with peyote visions; lacquerware, dance masks, charro saddlery, rebozos, day-of-the-dead skeletons and cases of toys that blur the line between craft and art. The museum invented the giant-alebrije parade that now fills Reforma every October, and its ground-floor shop is famous in its own right - fair-trade pieces from named artisans, making it the single best place in the city to buy folk art that is actually good.

What you actually see

• Monumental alebrijes - room-filling fantastical creatures in full color.
• Trees of life - Metepec's flowering ceramic genealogies.
• Huichol yarn and bead work - vision art in electric color.
• The shop - artisan-sourced pieces worth the trip alone.

When to go

Any day but Monday; late October if you want the giant alebrijes fresh from the Reforma parade. The courtyard skylight makes even rainy afternoons bright.

Honest expectations

It is joyful rather than scholarly - context panels are light, and the collection rotates. Two floors suffice for most visits. The shop is priced fairly for quality, which means above street-market rates.

Nearby

The Alameda and Bellas Artes are three blocks east; the Franz Mayer and Mural Diego Rivera museums sit just across the park.